In the recent years, communication networks and especially mobile communication networks became increasingly popular. With this popularity, the number of users and/or subscribers having subscribed to communicate via such communication networks has correspondingly increased. Examples for such communication networks are the GSM network or the currently being developed UMTS network. However, the present invention is not limited to be applied to these networks, but any other communication network requiring a subscriber data management (and subscriber activation) may be suitable for the present invention to be applied thereto. Only for descriptive purposes, the present application refers to a terminology known from GSM and/or UMTS networks.
Such networks generally consist of an access network (a radio access network in case of a mobile communication network) and a core network. The core network, being independent of connection technology of the terminal (e.g. radio or wired), manages connections for specific users. To this end, a switching means known as mobile switching center MSC is provided in the core network. Such a MSC may either be a GSM MSC or a UMTS MSC. Note that if the network is an IP multimedia network (IP=Internet Protocol), the network also comprises call processing servers (CPS) or call state control functions (CSCF) by means of which calls are set up in the network. Still further, the core network comprises at least one database entity known as home location register HLR in GSM or as home subscriber server HSS in UMTS. The home subscriber server HSS and/or the home location register HLR is the master database for a given user. It is the entity containing the subscription related information to support the network entities actually handling calls/sessions, such as the MSC and others. The HLR/HSS is thus responsible for holding for example the following user related information:    user identification, numbering and addressing information    user security information: network access control information for authentication and authorization    user location information at intersystem level, HSS/HLR handles the user registration and stores intersystem location information and so on,    the user profile (services, service specific information)
A subscriber entity is not enabled to actively communicate in the communication network unless it is registered in a HLR/HSS of said communication network. Stated in other words, only those subscriber entities are enabled to actively communicate in a communication network, the data of which are kept in a record of the HLR/HSS as a database entity of a first type of the communication network. It is to be noted that in the present description, the subscriber entity corresponds to e.g. a SIM (subscriber identity module) card of GSM or UMTS. The subscriber entity is activated in a terminal to enable communication with the network in the role of the subscriber entity. Hitherto, if a new customer as a new subscriber to the network newly subscribed to the network of and/or bought a new subscriber entity (presumably together with a terminal) from the network operator, it was the responsibility of the operator to create the data needed for the new subscriber to be available in the HLR/HSS database entity. Stated in other words, the purchase of the mobile equipment (the phone itself) is totally independent of the purchase of the SIM card. This may or may not happen when the mobile equipment itself is purchased.
An operator usually receives a certain batch of SIM cards from SIM manufacturer. These SIM cards typically belong to an IMSI number range indicated by the operator to the manufacturer prior to the order of the SIM card batch. There is usually no programming (of the cards) necessary after the cards have been delivered by the manufacturer to the operator.
Hereafter, there exist essentially two options with regard to the subscriber data addition to the registers:    (1) subscriber data on unpurchased subscriptions (i.e. SIM cards) is stored in advance to the HLR prior to the purchase of the subscription from the operator. This may happen e.g. when the batch of SIM cards is received from the SIM card manufacturer. When a subscription is actually purchased by an end user, it is merely marked as active in the registers. This causes a waste of register capacity; More precisely, if the network operator thus creates subscribers, i.e. subscriber data, to be readily available in the HLR/HSS database, this implies that the network operator will have to provide for the required infrastructure of the network also for those subscribers only present by corresponding subscriber data in the HSR/HSS database, but which do not yet correspond to an actual subscriber, i.e. a customer that has signed a contract with the network operator to become a subscriber and which actively uses the infrastructure provided for. Thus, this is inconvenient for a network operator since he has to provide for communication network capacity not used.    (2) subscriber data corresponding to a newly purchased subscription is created to the HLR by the operator shortly after the purchase of the subscription (i.e. SIM card). The IMSI corresponding to the SIM card is created to the HLR along with the rest of the created subscriber data. This causes a delay in the availability of the subscription.
Stated on other words, the creation of the newly required subscriber data may take quite a time before the new subscriber receives his subscriber entity, i.e. subscriber identity module SIM and/or USIM (UMTS SIM) which he has to insert into his terminal in order that this can be operated. The subscriber identity module could be sent to the shop where the subscriber bought his subscriber terminal and he is informed that he may come to the shop to have the subscriber identity module delivered to him. Thus, the subscriber has to come twice to the shop which causes a further inconvenience to him.
Alternatively, new subscriber data may be created via a fast data connection from the shop to the core network, e.g. the HLR/HSS in order to create the needed information. Nevertheless, even with a “fast connection”, such a process may still take a couple of hours and it is rather inconvenient for a customer, to wait for such a long time in the shop and/or to return to the shop after waiting that time. Still further, creating the data at the core network does not prevent the necessity for the subscriber identity module SIM to be created with the subscriber's information created. Therefore, in such a case each shop would have to be equipped with a corresponding equipment for programming subscriber identity modules with created subscriber data. This, however, would be inconvenient for the network operator from the point of view of additionally arising costs for such equipment.